AVRA Medical, an emerging company that is creating the next generation of autonomous surgical robotics, has extended its research contract through April 2021 with the University of Central Florida (UCF).
Image: AVRA and UCF collaborate to develop navigation and control technologies with applications in medical robotics. Photo: Courtesy of Nemesis63/Wikipedia.
AVRA and UCF have been collaborating to develop navigation and control technologies with applications in medical robotics.
As part of this research agreement, UCF engineering students under the direction of Electrical Engineering Professor Zhihua Qu, continue to assist AVRA with its research and development of autonomous medical robotics. AVRA’s robotics lab is located in Central Florida’s Research Park, in close proximity to UCF’s main campus.
“We are pleased to formally extend our relationship with UCF,” said Barry Cohen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AVRA. “This relationship has been nothing less than a ‘win-win’ for AVRA and UCF. Their students are an excellent resource for AVRA and have contributed tremendously to making improvements to our first-generation autonomous robotic arm by helping with the platform’s software, its controls, and navigation system. Being able to tap into a leading university for autonomous robotics has been an important relationship for AVRA and we look forward to continued collaboration with Dr. Qu and his students and UCF staff.”
Collaborations with industry are important to universities for a variety of reasons including the hands-on opportunities they provide students. The collaborations can also better prepare students for the workplace and together they can contribute to the local economy.
“We are delighted to continue our industry partnership with AVRA, which has embarked on a project to bring an autonomous medical robot to the marketplace,” said Dr. Qu, the principal investigator on the AVRA sponsored research project. He is also the chair of UCF’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Our students have made technical contributions and have gained practical experience about the many ways robotics can be used to improve lives. We are happy to continue this research collaboration.”
Source: Company Press Release.